Baroda (now known as Vadodara) is my hometown, the city where I was born. I've always loved Baroda - it's small for an Indian city, and has a much different feel than anywhere else I've been to in India. Quite frankly, things are pretty normal around these parts, but that doesn't mean Baroda doesn't have some awesome things to see.
Our first day here we visited Eme Mandir, which is a temple complex run by the local military school. Terrorism is a very real threat for everyday Indians, particularly in Western India, and the military presence in Baroda was very obvious. Regardless, my Didun told me that I used to love going to the Eme Mandir and playing there as a child. Katie, Arny and I checked it out, and it was a very peaceful place indeed - exactly what we needed at this point in the trip when we were utterly exhausted.The mandir complex itself was basically a small park with statues from all point of Indian-Hindu history, and the mandir had structural elements which represented five different religions in India: Hinduism, Islam, Jainism, Buddhism, and Christianity.
Our second day in Baroda was also pretty eventful. We checked out an old palace museum of Baroda which had artwork and statues from all over the world. It was small but sweet. After that we went and toured the Laxmi Vilas Palace, the epic dwelling of the old royal family of Baroda. The tour was complete with MP3 guides that were in English, just for us.
Finally we went to my favorite spot in Baroda: the zoo. I can still remember this zoo from my baby days - Didun tells me that I used to refuse to go to school unless she took me to see the birds in the morning. And for good reason - the bird collection at the Baroda zoo is massive, and there are many other animals at the zoo from all over India and the world. Clearly this is where my love for nature started, and it was awesome to be able to share the zoo experience with Katie and Arny.
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